>>19491560Consider the recent ISS experiment EXPOSE-E.
> Some hardy Earth organisms may be able to survive on Mars, a new study suggests. Two species of tiny fungi from Antarctica survived an 18-month exposure to Mars-like conditions aboard the International Space Station, according to the study, which was published last month in the journal Astrobiology.> The researchers studied two species of microscopic fungus, Cryomyces antarcticus and C. minteri, that were collected from Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys — one of the most Mars-like environments on Earth. These fungi are "cryptoendolithic," meaning that they live within rock cracks. The fungi were placed within an experiment platform developed by the European Space Agency called EXPOSE-E. Spacewalking astronauts affixed EXPOSE-E to the orbiting lab's exterior.> For 18 months, half of the Antarctic fungi were exposed to simulated Mars conditions — specifically, an atmosphere consisting of 95 percent carbon dioxide, with a pressure of 1,000 pascals (about 1 percent that of Earth at sea level); and high levels of ultraviolet radiation. The other half of the fungi served as a control population.> "The most relevant outcome was that more than 60 percent of the cells of the endolithic communities studied remained intact after 'exposure to Mars,' or rather, the stability of their cellular DNA was still high," study co-author Rosa de la Torre, of the National Institute of Aerospace Technology in Spain, said in a statement. However, less than 10 percent of the fungi were able to proliferate and form colonies after experiencing the Mars-like conditions, the researchers found.The DNA is stable in 10% of cases, sufficient for proliferation and adaptation by evolution. If we came here in spaceships, those spaceships were more likely spores than ships. The entire galaxy is certainly littered with infectious life. This shit grows on trees for free anywhere its wet.
